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Hello, my Latin American Spanish students! ? Are you asking for where do accents go in Spanish? Read this post about Spanish accents and you will know it!
Remember that studying Spanish is not like learning to ride a bicycle, it is a long process that lasts a lifetime. That is why, step by step, with Wanderlust Spanish we want to teach you Latin American grammar, culture, and Spanish in all its essence!
Accent marks in Spanish, á, é, í, ó, ú may seem insignificant, but they represent an important way to show how words are pronounced. Accents point out emphasis. Each word in Spanish contains an accent, a syllable that is stressed, but these don’t always have to be marked with an accent mark.
Accents, sometimes known as ’tildes’, appear at the top of certain letters in Spanish, and are written as a short diagonal line, from the top right to the bottom left. They can only ever appear over the five vowel letters (á, é, í, ó, ú), meaning you will never see a Spanish word with an accent mark over a consonant
Spanish accents
Rules for accents in Spanish
- In Spanish, we have four kinds of words according to their accent. If the accent is on the last syllable, the word is “aguda“. For example: caminé/tomé/salí (Preterito perfecto regular verbs)
- If the accent is in the penultimate syllable, the word is “grave“. And, if this word doesn’t end with “n”, “s” or a vowel, the word needs the graphic mark. Examples of this are words like “fácil“, “difícil“, “carácter“. Examples of words “graves” but without accents are “perro“, “gato“, all the gerunds (“hablando“, “caminando“, “corriendo“, “sintiendo“).
- If the accent is in the antepenultimate syllable, the word is “esdrújula“. These words always need a graphic mark. Examples of this are words like “brújula“, “último“, “típico“, “único“.
- Last but not least, if the accent is in the previous to the antepenultimate syllable, it is the word “sobreesdrújula“. Most of these words are adverbs that end with “mente“. Like “hábilmente“, “cálidamente“, “fácilmente“, “suavemente“.
In some situations, accents are not really used for pronunciation. Their function is to differentiate words that are spelled the same but have different meanings, such as:
Tu (possessive) tú (subject)si (conditional) sí (confirmation)
These words are pronounced the same, but the accent helps avoid misunderstandings in written texts.
How do I type an accent mark?
Android. Just like iOS, you can easily add accents to characters by holding your finger on the key you’d like to accent. You’ll see the same pop-up window, where you’ll need to slide your finger over to the character you’d like to use.
There are several key combinations you can use to insert single characters into your text on a PC. The first is for newer computers using the Control key and may only work in Microsoft Office.
In Office for Windows: For accented vowles: Press Ctrl + ‘, then the vowel (ctrl + ‘ + a = á)
For Ñ: Press Ctrl + ~, then the letter n (ctrl + ~ + n = ñ)
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Hasta la próxima!